


Frank's Boring Day

by Tynemousie



Category: Bandom, My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe, First Meetings, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-11
Updated: 2014-09-11
Packaged: 2018-02-17 01:06:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2291327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tynemousie/pseuds/Tynemousie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Frank Iero felt like his life was never going to change. Perhaps if he paid a little more attention to what was going on around him, it would.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Frank's Boring Day

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the random prompt:  
> "What is the most boring day you've had? Describe it, but this time, make it sound not boring at all."

05:30

The first thought that went through Frank's head when the clanging of his alarm clock roused him was that maybe it would have been more sensible to go to bed at a reasonable hour instead of staying up reading his newest comic haul until 3am. The second thought (which he had every morning) was that maybe it was time to get a new alarm clock instead of the metal Sesame Street one he'd had since he was a kid because there had to be more gentle ways to wake up in the morning. As he grabbed the object of his constant love/hate relationship, thoughts of better ways to rise each day pushed their way to the front of his mind. Like the gentle caress of someone else's skin or the warm press of a gorgeous man's lips to the back of his neck. 

Annoyed with the sudden intrusion of such ideas, he slammed the clock back onto the bedside cabinet, wincing at the scream of metal against wood. Determined not to let the longing in his heart get the better of him, Frank dragged himself out of bed and set about getting ready for work. 

 

06:30

Snapping his headphones over his head, Frank started his journey to work. It wasn't long before he was completely lost to the music as he made the 20 minute walk to the hotel at which he was currently employed. Normally Frank worked nights, but the girl who manned reception during the day had asked him to swap shifts for a couple of weeks because her mom was going into the hospital for surgery. The thing was that Frank liked being the night porter. As long as he was at the desk, he could read, listen to music or doodle. Being on days meant he couldn't really do anything like that. 

It did, however, mean that there would be actual people. Frank liked people. The biggest problem with that was that the people he'd be working with would be _customers_. Just like his feeling towards his alarm clock, he had a distinctly love/hate relationship with the creatures commonly known as customers. Most of them were pleasant enough, but there was always the a small number who were over privileged asses. Just because he was short and looked a lot younger than he was didn't mean he was stupid, despite what that those kind of people obviously thought. 

So involved in his dissection of the human race and their obvious faults, Frank didn't notice the small black cat that ran out from under the fence just before his feet. And because of the volume of music bouncing through his headphones, he certainly didn't hear the sounds of a car braking suddenly followed by the crunch of the same car colliding with a street lamp. Frank definitely didn't hear the young woman getting out of the car (thankfully uninjured) and yelling in the direction that the offending feline had made its escape (also unscathed, if not very indignant at being yelled at).

Unaware of the chaos, Frank grabbed a free paper from the box on the corner of the street and continued on his way.

 

11:11

The start of Frank's shift had been uneventful (which given that the most exciting thing in his life was new comic book day didn't surprise him at all). Aside from a slight rush of business types to check out to go to meetings, there had been very little for him to do other than hand over a list of rooms that needed servicing to the chamber maid. They had chatted for a while about nothing in particular, but at least it was a little company. Frank had to admit when the red head had started to wax lyrical about her kitten, he'd made up an excuse to go to the back office just to avoid hearing about "cute widdle Fluffy" and his anal gland problem. 

After a minute or two, he'd peeked around the door to make sure Samantha (or maybe Suzanne, he couldn't really remember) had gone up to start cleaning. Happy that the coast was clear, Frank flopped back into the chair behind the reception desk. Placing his hands on the counter he pushed off, spinning around in the seat, his feet swinging in the air since they didn't quite reach the floor. He had a terrible feeling that today was going to be as dull as every other.

 

13:50

Having remembered that he'd picked up a free newspaper on the way to work, Frank had gotten momentarily excited. So okay, maybe he wasn't all that interested in what was going on in the city, but it sure as hell beat staring at the floral wallpaper any longer. Pulling the paper out from the drawer in which he'd stuffed it earlier, Frank settled back into the chair, swinging it from side to side as he started to read the front page. 

There wasn't anything particularly thrilling to report in the local freebie, but it was certainly better than nothing. At least that's what Frank told himself as he finished the article about the rise in house prices. He was turning the page when he was distracted by the reception bell being rung right in front of where he was sitting. Startled and in mid swing, Frank tumbled off the chair, pulling the reservation diary off with him. 

Frank brushed himself off and quickly rolling down the sleeves of his shirt, covering the tattoos he knew shouldn't be on show at work. "Can I help you?" he asked as he scrambled around to pick up all of the papers that had fallen out of the book as it hit the floor. 

"I'm going out for a couple of hours. Can I leave the key?" came the disembodied voice of a man who sounded distinctly around the same age as Frank.

Still busy gathering up the mess he'd made, Frank replied distractedly, "You can take it with you, you know."

The voice spoke again, but Frank was far too busy worrying about how long it was going to take him to put the diary back in order to glance up. "I'll totally loose it if I do that." Frank was vaguely aware of the man standing in silence for a moment before the customer spoke again, "You're clearly kinda busy. I'll just leave the key here."

By the time he registered the slight disappointment in the other man's voice and looked up to see what the problem was, the customer was gone. Frank found himself alone as he finally picked up the last of the papers. 

Still gathering his wits, Frank pushed the newspaper off into the bin and dumped the retrieved paperwork onto the counter, climbing back onto the chair with a sigh. This was going to take forever to sort out! 

Of course had Frank actually looked up earlier, he would have found a particularly attractive man wanting to catch his attention. A man with bright orange hair and a mischievous grin who _really_ had a thing for tattoos. But then Frank had been far too busy tidying up his own mess to have noticed. Had he being paying more attention in the first place and not fallen off the chair, he wouldn't have missed the newspaper article on the next page reporting the escape of the young leopard from the nearby zoo. Which is a shame, really, because both of those things would have made his day that little bit more interesting.

 

17:00

Frank was bored. Not just bored, but _B.O.R.E.D_. And to make matters worse, he still had another two hours of work! Looking at the reservation list for the seventh time that day, he confirmed yet again that the hotel were only expecting two new guests to arrive before seven. 

Having managed to reassemble the diary from his accident earlier, Frank had had nothing to occupy his time. He'd been so restless that he'd even tidied up the back office and the entire stand of tourism leaflets in the reception area. At least he'd been productive. Having said that, he had no idea how he was going to survive a whole week on this shift. 

He eventually gave up on occupying himself, settling back onto the chair and propping up his head on his hands with his elbows on the counter. Frank let his mind wander as he swung on the seat with his feet dangling beneath him. At least this time he could see if anyone was coming to avoid a repeat of the earlier catastrophe. Unfortunately for Frank, it would be another hour until the next guest required his attention.

 

18:17

Just typical. It really was. Practically nothing for the whole shift and then both couples arrived at once to book in. That in itself wouldn't have been too bad, but they were full of questions, and the first couple (Northern European Frank guessed) didn't speak particularly good English. He was trying to explain about the breakfast times when yet another person came in. Frank didn't know it, but it was the guest who had left his key earlier. All he knew from a quick sideway glance when he heard the door chime open was that this guy was _pretty_. Like really pretty.

So Frank found himself stuck with a loudly sighing and impatient couple complaining to themselves and a hot guy watching him intently as he struggled to direct the European couple to their room. It felt to him as though the room had jumped up a few degrees in temperature by the time he was done apologising to the second set of guests and they'd left. Frank's nerves were frazzled to say the least by the time he got around to asking the man with orange hair if he could help.

"I just came to collect my key." Frank found himself staring at the guest's lips as he spoke. Not expecting another check in and not recognising the man from earlier, he looked at him with an expression of mild confusion. "Key?" he asked as he tore his gaze away from the other man's lips and up to his eyes.

The orange haired man smiled, displaying a row of perfect teeth, and Frank and felt a little blush rising to his cheeks. This guy was _gorgeous_ and that smile! Frank was sure it could melt him if he looked long enough. He'd almost forgotten that he'd asked a question, jumping a little when the reply finally came. "Yeah. The one I left earlier when you had a bit of a mishap." The man waved his hand around to demonstrate Frank's earlier failing.

Groaning on the inside that it had been this perfect example of loveliness that'd he'd embarrassed himself in front of, Frank smiled meekly. "Oh, right, that. Two minutes." Scurrying into the back office, he retrieved the key. Typical really, that it would be a gorgeous guy like that who had been witness to his stupidity. Not, of course, that someone like that would be interested in him. Pretty guys generally didn't go for heavily tattooed midgets. 

Frank soon found himself back behind the reception desk, holding out the key for the guest. He suddenly found his wrist being taken hold of and him being pulled forward. Blinking in surprise, Frank was lost for words as the stranger pulled the sleeve covering his tattoos back a little with an exclamation. "I _knew_ it!"

Panicked, Frank yanked his arm out of the guest's grip, pushing the shirt back down his arm. The last thing he needed was to be reported by this guy for having his ink on show. He was about to beg for leniency when the other man practically squeaked out a "sorry!" and fled the reception in the direction of the hotel rooms. Slumping back against the wall, Frank shook his head and wondered what the hell that had all been about.

 

18:50

Looking at the clock on the wall for what must have been the hundredth time in the last twelve hours, Frank was disturbed by a creak on the staircase. Craning his neck, he tried to see who was coming down, but was rewarded by an empty hallway. Shrugging it off as the building being creepy, he went back to watching the clock. 

Five minutes later, Frank leapt off his seat as Lucy walked in through the front door. He practically pounced on the woman and hugged her tightly. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" _Finally_! He'd been rescued from boredom.

"Okay, okay Frankie. You can let go now." Lucy grinned as she wriggled out of the short man's grip. "How about you catch me up with today and you can get yourself home?"

Grinning like an idiot, Frank skipped into the back office to run through the new guests with Lucy. Once he'd handed over everything that had happened that shift, he popped back out to the reception desk to make sure he hadn't left anything behind. When Frank scanned over the counter, he was confronted with a bright green Post-it note. Pulling it off the desk, he read the writing in bold block capitals.

SORRY ABOUT EARLIER. DIDN'T MEAN TO FREAK YOU OUT, I JUST REALLY LIKE INK. G XOXO

Frank stared at the message again, trying to figure out what it was about and whether it was for him. His thought process was disturbed by a light tap on his shoulder. Turning around, he held out the note for Lucy to read, hoping she might know more than he did.

"Ooh, you met Gerard then? You know, bright orange hair?" Lucy gave the note back to Frank, who folded it over and slipped it into his pocket. He looked at his colleague curiously. "So he has a name? Is he always really weird?" 

Lucy just giggled. "What did he do?"

After a lengthy description of what had happened earlier, Frank learnt that the mysterious Gerard was an artist who frequently came into the city for art sales and events. Suddenly Frank was very interested. Debating what to do, he talked a little more with Lucy before deciding to leave a post it note of his own, scribed in messy scrawl.

No worries. Nice to have a name to the face. I'm Frankie x

Having left the note with Lucy to either give to Gerard or stick on his door if she got the chance, Frank clocked out. He snapped his headphones on before tugging his hoodie up over his head and walked out if the hotel.

 

19:50

Since he'd already left work late due to chatting with Lucy, Frank was running behind his normal schedule. However since he didn't have anywhere in particular to be, he was taking his time walking home. So involved in listening to his music and day dreaming about the beautiful man he'd met earlier, Frank hadn't noticed the increased police presence on his usual route home. Had he managed to read the rest of his paper, he'd have known to keep an eye out for the escaped leopard. 

Unfortunately Frank had no idea the danger he was in. Something was stalking him in the undergrowth as he walked. He was also oblivious to the fact that he was now being followed by two keepers who had heard the rustling sounds from the bushes. It was sheer dumb luck and a little blissful ignorance that meant Frank narrowly escaped unscathed. 

Just as he was unlocking the gate to his back yard, the leopard emerged from the scrub and readied to pounce. Thankfully Frank had already slipped inside when the big cat leapt for him; a narrow escape indeed. Two minutes later, the keepers that had been following the young beast and its target had it safely captured. 

Frank was unaware of the drama outside as he settled in for the night, heading to bed early to try and catch up on some valuable sleep.

 

EPILOGUE

The next day, when Frank arrived at the hotel, he discovered another note, left for him the previous night.

HI FRANKIE. WOULD LOVE TO DISCUSS YOUR TATS. COFFEE? G XOXO

Let's just say that after that Frank's days got a lot more interesting.


End file.
